Christophe Laporte wins first stage of Etoile de Bessèges and takes GC lead
Feb 03 2021 11:37 pm CET
Team Cofidis
Cofidis' Christophe Laporte has taken the victory of the first stage at Etoile de Bessèges and is the first leader of the race.
The first stage of the French race was 141 kilometres long and took the peloton over a course from and to Bellegarde that finished on a second category climb. The escape of the day was formed by Alexandre Delettre (Delko), Tom Paquot (Bingoal-Wallonie Bruxelles) and Louis Louvet (St Michel-Auber93), who were caught by the pack with around 10 kilometres to go.
With six kilometres remaining, there was a crash that caused a split in the pack and that affected mainly Bora-hansgrohe's Felix Grossschartner. On the last climb, Nacer Bouhanni (Arkea-Samsic) was the first rider to attack and was followed by Christophe Laporte (Cofidis), who then did his own move that was enough for him to get the victory of the day.
Former world champion Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo), Giacomo Nizzolo (Qhubeka Assos) and Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) completed the top five of the day.
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